The Department of Education (DepEd) will be adding 117 teachers to augment its workforce as part of the agency’s initiative to hire 10,000 teachers nationwide by 2023.

According to Danilo Gudelusao, chief of the School Governance Operations Division of DepEd Bohol, they prioritized returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) scholars and 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) beneficiaries in filling up the vacancies.

The OFWs in particular are those part of the labor department’s OFW reintegration program called “Sa ’Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma’am/Sir,” (SPIMS) which allows OFWs who passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers to apply and be employed by the Department of Education (DepEd) as teachers.

“Para ni sa mga naka pasar sa board exam unya gikan abroad na naapaki sila didto mao mo uli sila diri,” said Gudelusao.

The teachers who will be hired have already been designated through DepEd’s head office in Manila.

“Ang central office maoy nihatag nato og listahan kung kinsa ang hatagan sa items, identified na sila daan,” Gudelusao said.

Of those identified to be part of the mass hiring, 40 are under SPIMS and 75 are DOST scholars.

So far, only two 4Ps beneficiaries are to be hired.

“Sa ubang 4Ps mag-agad pa ta og naay ubang vacancies, priority sila,” said Gudelusao.     

He added that the new teachers will be tasked to teach at the elementary and secondary levels.

The teachers will have a salary grade of 11 to 13.

Their salaries range from P25,439 to P29,798.

DepEd reportedly has been allocated a budget for the hiring of 10,000 teachers for the next school year.

Currently, DepEd has some 900,000 teaching personnel. (A. Doydora)